Happy Sunday Everyone:
I consider myself a “professional” lender…..which means I really struggle with the “personal” stuff the CORE asks me to do (makes me do). The one item, more than anything, I can’t stand doing, is the “letter of the heart”…it’s just not me, I don’t even like the title. I worry about my friends making fun of me, what clients are going to think, what business partners are going to think etc…..And I think I have the right to think that way…Who really wants to hear about my personal stuff besides my trusted students, past and present, and a few additional folks I trust wont judge me (i.e. my Sunday Thoughts distribution list). 3 weeks ago, in a moment of vulnerability and “growth mindset” i.e. “who gives a crap what others think”….I decided to send my “letter to Jack from Cooperstown” to my entire database…..900 people (although I did skim the list for a few good friends/clients I knew would make fun of me/judge me). Fast forward Friday. Kim’s leaving a flower shop….lady chases her out into the parking lot after looking at her receipt and says “are you Hunter’s wife”……She received my letter and boasted to Kim about its content….then asked Kim to have me call her….she’s a past client who bought a flower shop??? I didn’t know this.. I received a phone call from clients who are grandparents and were forwarding my letter to their kids in hopes they’ll do something similar with their kids. I received a txt from someone I thought I had scrubbed off the list congratulating me on the content. The best one was a great Realtor/friend of mine who I was sure I had scrubbed off the list for fear of judgment, he was carrying it in his pocket when I saw him…My point in telling you this now is not to brag about my letter, or that you send letters and get business…THAT IS NOT MY POINT at all. My points are these:
· nearly every time we step off the ledge of comfort and into the unknown, great things happen.
· people do business with people they like and trust. Why do we keep it a secret if we’re doing our best to be good people?
· Do good things to do good things. My Realtor client who had my letter in his pocket said one of his favorite parts was that my contact information was nowhere on the letter i.e. it really wasn’t sent to get my phone to ring and he felt that.
· if we make decisions based on fear of judgment, we crush our experience with most people who are not interested in judging us.
· authenticity is a major factor of sharing personal experiences with people. If we do it for the wrong reasons, it’s obvious. We always need to be authentic.
Reality is I’m now doing a loan for the client at the flower shop and several others who contacted me, but that was not the point of the letter going out. Point was to share a very positive experience I had with my son and hope my clients/referral partners could see me as a guy trying to be a good man in his personal life, and perhaps learn something from a great experience I had, and not just view me as the guy that did their loan. Our clients have to know us if we plan on being in a relationship with them.
Have a great Sunday.